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PARTICULARS 


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ON RECORD? v | 

ST, LOUIS, MO, TO ADAMS, NEW Ml ' 


IN NINETEEN HOURS ! 


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• : VS 


EXPERIENCE OF THE TRAVELLERS. >! 

. -%r?- 'Act J 


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STATEMENT MADE BY MB. WISE AND OTHERS- 


MIRACULOUS li! SC AP E ! 


V ■ '§ 

KD> A wonderful account of the Voyage in a Balloon, undertakeQ'by Mr WISE, thy- *1 
celebrated Aeronaut, accompanied by Messrs. LA MOUNT A EXE, 7 

‘J GAGER and HYDE. Thesiart was made from St. 

Louis, July 2, 1859, ou Friday afternoon, artd 

after traveling 1150 miles, in ie«s than : 

twenty hours, a lauding Was effected 

in Henderson Tov, nship, Jef ,01*. A 

ferson County, N. Y. 

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SOLD BY 6 | 

DEXTER Sc 

113 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK, 

- ■■:£# ■ 

Published by A. DONNELLY. 




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aerial voyage. 


&r. Louis, July 1st, 4 PAJ*. 

' v tg-looked-for event of an attempt to perform an aerial 
mey i.’om St. Louis to the Atlantic sea-board bids fair to be ^ 
dized, and the thorough and careful press orations which have | 
beer, made by the projectors of this wonderful voyage to he, are i 

such as might be expected from those who have had the faith, cool- f f ; 

ness, and determination to put their cherished project to a practical 
test. Messrs. Wise, Gager, and La Mountaine, be it understood, do 
not embark in this enterprise with a view of making it an .exhibi¬ 
tion of their daring and resolution, nor to satisfy the curiosity of ■ 
an excited crowd, but with a view of establishing ^cts in relation 
to aerial navigation which to them appear evident and undeniable. 
r ITie theory is this: that at a certain altitude from the earth there 

is a continual current of air running from west to east, and, with 
the proper means for varying their altitude, they hope &ocy|jj6i^ 
vs on the theory for determining their course, and for the ultimate 
ccess of their project. Every thing connected with the mecha- 
cal part of the undertaking has been done in the most thorough 
manner, and nothing has been left undone on the score of economy 
in the expenditure of money or of painstaking labor. 

Surely an aerial trip of ten or twelve hundred miles across the 
continent is a feat which, if accomplished, will mark a new era m $ 
the history of wonders, if not of usefulness. 1 he duties assigned 
to each of the gentlemen making the ascent, are as follows: Mr. 
John Wise, scientific director; Mr. La Mountaine, aeronaut; Mr. 

O. A. Gager, navigator. The ascent is being made—or at least 
the preparations for it—in Washington square, the use of it being 
freely given by the city fathers. The gas is supplied by a ten-inch 
gas-pipe from the street. The operation of inflating the balloon 
commenced at one o’clock ; but owing to its enormous size, the pro¬ 
cess of filling was necessarily slow.' The balloon is the largest, or 
one of the largest, ever constructed, the entire length from thetop ^ 
to the bottom of the boat being 120 feet, and the diameter 60 feet. 
The basket is four and a half feet in length, three and a banJafe 
width, and about three feet deep. The boat is sixteen feet lo|ig 
and four feet in width, iind is in itself a model of. beauty and 
strength. The machinery for changing the altitude of the balloon 
is attached to the boat, adding, howfever, but little to its origin^ 
weight. The whole is suspended from the balloon by thirty-eight 


* 


•STi'W P ‘ 




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cords, each a quarter of an inch in diameter, the cords not beTi 
attached to the boat itself, but to a heavy canvas casing, in which 
the boat securely,*tests. The buoyant capacity of the balloon is 
estimated at 8000 pounds, and the*amount of the ballast, aside 
from the passengers and their equipments^ about one thousand 
pounds. *’ 4 , 


V> iV *S 







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t; 5 o’Clock P.M. 

Balloon two-thirds inflated. Messrs. Wise, Gager, and La 
Mountain? have deposited their carpet-bags, blankets, &c., irr the 
boat with all the 1 coolness of veteran railroad travelers, and in 
their seeming unconcern is half a successor their project. It was. 
announced that Professor Wise would address the crowd on the 
object and aims qf the present enterprise, but owing to the lateness 
of the hour it will probably not be possible for him to do so. It 
is the intention of the party to land nearly a thousand miles east 
of St. Louis; if so, you will receive this soon after their landing. 
I send this in the personal care of Mr. Gager, the financial pro¬ 
jector of this grand experiment. 


A 


Mi 





ft. v 

'6 O’CLOCK P.M. 


The oar and boat are being attached, and I must close with the 
wish of this vast crowd, that success may’be theirs. 

No news of importance. Weather very warm. 




fo,A< I 






v> Ylti 





MR Till,; STAKT.a| IP 

[From the St. t*puj9 Democrat, July 2.] 

Yesterday afternoon, according to previous announcement, the 
first grand experimental air-voyage took place from Washington 
square. A portion of the square had been fenced in for the occa¬ 
sion, permission having been granted for that purpose by the City 
Council. JV:l 




■ORIGIN OF TIIE IDEA OF AERIAL NAVIGATION. 

About a year since Mr. O. A. Gager, of Vermont, made a bal¬ 
loon ascension in company with Mr. John La Mountaine, at Koches- 
ter, New York. Mr. Gager’s observations at the time suggested to 
him the idea of making a long voyage through the air. A study of 
the currents of the upper deep, led Mr. Gager to believe that ad¬ 
vantage might be taken of certain currents by which a voyage 
could easily be made from west to east for any distance. . 

Mr. Gager proposed the plan to Mr. La Mountaine, who readily 
acquiesced in the views of the former, and expressed confidence in 
the practicability of the project. Mr. G ager, being a man of means, 
agreed to furnish the baser portion of the capital, provided Mr. La 






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WTtainc, who was not so well off in worldly goods, would furnish 
his time and the mechanical skill necessary*for the execution of the 
design. To tjhs the lat/er readily consented, and in September last 
the parties set themselves to work in real earnest. 


THE BALLOON. 




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The balloon was made in Troy, New York, under the immediate 
supervision of Mr. La Mountaine- himself. That gentleman finished 
the balloon and coated it. The making of it alone required six 
months, at the average of twelve hours a day. The sewing occupied 
three hundred days, and was done by girls, who were selected from 
among the best seamstresses to be found. Twenty-two hundred and 
fifty yards of the very best Chinese oiled silk were used in its con¬ 
struction. It is one hundred and eighty feet in circumference, and 
six miles of cord used in the netting. It is the largest balloon that 
was ever manufactured, and Mr. Brooks’ balloon, which heretofore 
has been regarded as colossal, appeared but as a speck beside, the 
enormous dimensions of its neighbor. The grand aerial ship was 
named the Atlantic, the name being painted upon £lie side in large 


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letters. 


frraSf. 


THE INFLATION. 


At one o’clock the balloon was spread upon canvas stretched on 
the ground, and the process of inflation commenced. A large pipe 
conveyed the gas to the balloon froiq^he gasometer near the Seventh- 
street depot. 

Sixty-five thousand feet of gas were contracted for, but only about 
fifty thousand feet were required. 

The managers found that the buoyant capacity of the balloon 
was far beyond their anticipation. At three o’clock the gas was 
turned off, but at six it ( was again applied, and the balloon was 
speedily furnished with the required quantity. * 




THE CAR. 


A patent Ingersoll life-boat, sixteen feet long, was attached to 4 
the balloon, being some twenty-five feet suspended from the body 
of the balloon itself, between which was also attachad a willow 
basket of considerable size, intended as a greater means of safety for 
the voyagers, in case the balloon while descending should be forced . 
by the wind to drag over the tops of trees or houses. Upon the 
boat, on either side, were two fan-wheels. Mr. Gager informs us 
that with these fan-wheels alone, the bdat was propelled on the 
Hudsbn River at the rate of seven miles an hour, against both wind 
and tide. At a quarter past six o’clock P.M., the willow car and 
the boat were attached to the balloon, and about one hundred and 
fifty men held on to the cords of the netting. 



. T1IE CROWD, TICKETED AND UNTTCKETED. 

The crowd inside of the inclosure numbered several hundreds 
ibut was not sufficiently large to make the enterprise remunerative 
to the bold speculators who were! engaged in the experiment. The 
admission fee was fixed at fifty-cents. 

This we conceive to have been an error of judgment, for had the 
price been but a quarter of a dollar, the vast area would have been 
densely packed with human beings. As it was, the turn-out was 
as great— only the location being different. The streets,^uid house¬ 
tops, and sheds and windows outside the inclosure^ were completely 
■crammed with a multitude of thqjmrious. ■ 

No! than fifty thousand people congregated in the vicinity of 
Washington square 4 yesterday^ to witness the grand adventure. 
Tlie intense heat of the sun, whose lustre was undyftmed by any 
cloud during the whole of the afternoon, did not succeed in restrain- 
ing any from the gratification of a laudable curiosity. 




v AN EPISODE* 

\ J '- 'a? \ : . •' • 

Quite a disturbance was occasioned by the impudence of an indi¬ 
vidual who, after being kindly addressed by Mr. Baker, and soli¬ 
cited not to disturb any of the things placed in What was called “ the 
office,” at the south-east corner*of the inclosure, waited until Mr. 
Baker’s back was turned, and then slily abstracted a bottle of wine 
from a box, and uncorking it, proceeded to treat his friends. Mr. 
Baker had informed this individual that the Wine was his property, 
and intended to be presented to Mr. Wise, when he should be ready 
to start. 

Mr. Baker returned and ssfw the ktranger, who was a stoat, stal¬ 
wart man of forty, drinking his wine, and at once expressed his 
dissatisfaction. The stranger was perfectly cool. Mr. Baker 
became intensely excited, and at length, provoked beyond endur- 
Jince, attacked the stranger in a manner decidedly rough, and 
knocked him several feet towards the entrance-gate. The stranger 
showed fight, but the crowd gathered between the belligerents. 
The ladies and children, being in close proximity to the combatants, 
screeched and cried, and aclded considerable, by their fright, to 
the general tumult. 

In the grand row others became implicated, and a Mr. Sawyer 
was hurried outside the inclosure, and, as a policeman informed us, 
wa3 taken to the calaboose. We were told that a knife was taken 
from him by the police. In the mcafi time, after the first encoun¬ 
ter, the stranger had coolly walked off about his business, and was 
seen no more. 


THE STAR*. " yr 

At a quarter to seven o’clock, Messrs. Wise, Gager, La Moun- 
taine, and Hyde took their positions—the three latter in the boat, 
and the former in the willow car. v ' 

It was not announced that any but the first three mentioned 
would go up in the balloon ; but those gentlemen had promised Mr. 
Hyde, the reporter for the Republican , that if circumstances would 
permit, he should be privileged to make the trip in their company. 
Finding, as before stated, that the buoyant capacity was sufficient, 
Mr. Hyde was informed he was at liberty to make the trip. 

^ The party were plentifully supplied with water, wine, provisions, 
apd plenty of warm clothes. 

Mr. Hyde took quite a number, of copies of the Anzieger , the 
Republican, and the Democrat , which he intended distributing along 
the road.” ' Mr. Wise was also furnished with some of the mam- 
► moth, cards of our present Criminal Court Clerk, stating his desire 
•f«r reelection,'which Mr. Wise promised young Kretclimar to dis¬ 
tribute among the people where he should chance to alight. Mr. Wise, 
upon mounting the car, introduced Messrs. Gager and La Mountaine 
to the assembled mass t of people, and stated that Mr. Gager had fur¬ 
nished the capital, Mr. La Mountaine the mechanical skill, and now 
he expected to perform his part of the contract, and come in for a 
third of the glory. 

The United States Express Company* forwarded by this convey¬ 
ance a bag containing letters and*papers, weighing in all some eight 
or ten pounds. Upon the sack was printed the following: 

T. B. Marsh, United States Express Company, No. 82 Broad¬ 
way, New York: This bag is sent from St. Louis by the aerial 
ship Atlantic, July 1. Rlease? forWard to destination from landing 
of balloon, by express, as above directed. 

T..W. Ford, Agent, St. Louis. 

The crowd pressed so close around the car, that Mr. Wise, fearing 
some accident, desired those who were not holding on to the rope 
to retire a short distance therefrom. This request, kindly made, 
was obeyed by no one, and Mr. Wise became excited. Rushing 
from the car he declared his intention of doing nothing unless the 
crowd would retire. Major Rawlings, however, accomplished the 
desired object, and Mr. Wise was soon in his place, ready for the 
trip; and bidding good-by to all, at 6:45 the crowd released their 
hold of the ropes, and the Atlantic glided magnificently into the 
upper air. . 

MR. BROOKS. 

/ -/ v ■ -vi ■ 

We must not neglect to say that this courteous and energetic 
caterer to the public taste also, ascended in his own balloon. ,J Mr. 


, i 


Brooks cut Short from his. moorings nl>ont ten minutes 
other, and shot into the air^af the rate of a hundred miles an 
• It took bnt a quarter of an hour to inflate his balloon with the re¬ 
quired quantity of gas. Both balloons took a north-easterly course. 



THE WE.VTHEJJ. 





The experimentalists were favored )vith the most delightful wea¬ 
ther. A clear sky, bidding fair for like continuance through the 
whole night, gladdened the hearts of the noble crew who were about 
to embark on a dangerous* voyage. 

A delightful breeze blew steadily from the south-west during the 
whole day. Mr. Gager expressed considerable confidence in suc¬ 
cess, yet said he \vou]d not be surprised at failure. Hyde was fear- 
if 1 lest it might jjbQ. thought necessary for the success of 1 the voyage 
to land him at sdme place this side of New York or Baltimore, 
t It was told him that he could go no further tn£n would be justi¬ 
fiable for the party to risk his weight in the car. However, we 
anticipate he will go as far as the rest. 

AVe await with anxious interesKntelllgencc from the daring navi¬ 
gators. What new discoveries will result from the success of this 
adventure, we can scarcely predict. It will be time enough to 
speculate when we-hear the glad tidings of victory. 


m 


V. 


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TlfE PASSAGE. 



[Prom tlio- BufcwC^Courier, July 4.J 

S i — 

The aerial voyage from St. Lotus to New York was entered upon 
in good faith on the 1st instar* .....On the evening of that day the 
aeronauts, Messrs. Wise, La Mountaine and Gager, with a reporter 
from the St. Louis Republican, Mr. Hyde, embarked u\ -St. Louis, 
in the car attached to the'balloon Atlantic, and were floated off 
towards the empyrean. • We next hear of them as having been 
seen six miles north of Fort Wayne, Indiana, at four o’clock, on the 
morning of the 2d. Three hours and a half later, at 7.30, A.M., 
the ,balloon was seen from Sandusky, so near as to admit of reading 
the name inscribed upon it. As it receded, it seemed to fall into 
the Lake • but we hear of it again, two hours later, at Fajrport, 
where also it is said to have nearly touched the water, and then to 
have risen and disappeared. It was seen from Buffalo about noon, 
directly over the Niagara river. At a quarter-past twelve 
it passed Niagara Falls; at half-past twelve it was seen from 
Medina. It went rapidly over Lake Ontario, and at two o’clock 
the passengers hailed the propeller Young America,then twelve miles 
north-east of Oswego. after, the balloon landed at Adams, in 

Jefferson county, Ne\y York. ) h M 


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ARIh 


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STATEMENT OF ONI? OF TIIE PASSENGERS. 

r 

We had an interview last evening with Mr. William Hyde, re¬ 
porter of the St. Louis Republican "who accompanied the aeronauts, 
Messrs. Wise, Gager, and La Mountaine, from that city on their 
daring adventure, from whom we gathered the following synopsis 
of the trip : 

The monster l^lloon Atlantic left St. Louis at twenty minutes 
past seven, on Friday evening, and took a cours^ almost due east 
towards the eastern sea-board. *, 

This balloon is one of the largest ever constructed, being 130 
feet in length, from top to bottom, and 60 feet in diameter, with a 
lifting capacity of some 10,000 or 12,000 pounds. In addition to 
the four persons who occupied the car, a boat, weighing soi^e 600 
pounds,was attached sixteen feet below them, besides a large'quan- 
tity of ballast*, provisions, instruments, &c. : 

Tlyeir motion was very rapid throughout the night, inclining 
rather towards the north, with calm and beautiful weather. The 
aeronauts found it impossible -to perceive thfcir exact reckoning dur¬ 
ing the darkness, and went to sleep; but Mr. Hyde, to whom the 
situation was most novel, found himself unable to enjoy that luxury. 
Towards daylight the altitude which they had attained—between 
two and three miles-—rendered the cold quite severe, but by no 
means painful, as they^ere well provided for against such a con¬ 
tingency. . > 

They reached Lake Erie above Sandusky about seven ia the 
morning of Saturday, and tljdjce floated rapidly but silcmfy down, 
passing numerous ^vessels IPtneir route, until about tvyelv^ M., 
when they were opposite Buff^o. 

In the last 100 miles on this lake, a current of air ip which they 
floated, gradually bore them-to the water, until on several occasions 
their elevation did not exceed 300 feet. Soon after passing the 
Falls, the strength of this current rapidly, increased, until they 
neared Sackett’s Harbor. *>>yhen over >Lgke' Ontario, and about 
thirty miles from, its shore, it became a violent gale of wind, 
blowing almost directly downwards. 

Every effort was made to keep the balloon up by throwing out 
ballast, stores and instruments, but in spite of all their exertions, 
she made a ,trem6ndous dive, striking the water, staving the boat, 
and nearly bringing about a fatal termination of the voyage to Mr. 
La Mountaine. The balloon then rushed headlong towards the 
shore, which was reached in a few minutes, from whence it plunged 
into a dense forest at 5. speed which Mr. Hyde estimates at about 
two ip.iles a minute. The grapnels were cast loose, butt the strong 
iron hooks were wrenched off like pipe-stems. 

The boat, which was still below them, went crashing through 



the trees, leaving a path as if the locality had been visited by a 
tornado. Mr. Hyde says that trees of a foot or more in diamefHr 
were snapped asunder as if made of clay, while the branches were 11 * 
flying in* every direction. After proceeding about a mile at 
tliis rate, in momentary expectatian of destruction, the balloon was 
dashed against a huge tree, by which it was collapsed, and scarcely 
any thing left of it but'countless ribbons, 1$ seems marvellous that 
no lives were lost, hut tliis was doubtless owing to the boat, which 
sustained the shock of the forest, leaving the daring adventurers to 
descend to the earth froi# their perch entirely unharmed, with the 
exception of a slight bruise which Mr. La Mountaine received on 
one of his hips. " 

Mr. Hyde speaks in the warmest terms of the kindness which 
they experienced at the hands of the people where they descended, 
and says that could he have been landed in safety, the aerial ship 
would ha\ e completed her voyage to the Atlantic coast without 
difficulty. He regards the experiment as a success as it is, and as 
fully demonstrating the feasibility of crossing the Atlantic Ocean 
by means of aerial, navigation. 

The landing took place on the farm of a Mr. Whitney, in the 
town of Henderson, Jefferson county, near Sackett’s Harbor, at 
twenty minutes past two if.M. (by the adventurers’ time), being just 
nineteenihours from St. Louis, a distance of over 1100 miles, being, 
by more than double,#lie longest balloon voyage ever made. An 
immense number of persons who had seen the approach of the bal- 
loon, soon appeared and vied with each other in rendering assist¬ 
ance. ; $• - it. * . j'f • ■ 

The aeronauts were taken'tfr a tillage 'nSar at hand and hospit¬ 
ably entertained, from which they were transported in the evening 
to Adams, a-station ten miles.distant on the Rome and Watertown 
Railroad, from wliichjilr. Hyde set out on .bis return to St. Louis 
—Messrs. Wide and (*ag$r repairing to Albany, and Mr. La Moun¬ 
taine remaining to take charge of the wreck. 







OF THE GKEAT BALLOON VOYAGE. 

LANDING OP THE BALLOON—MB. WISE IN ALBANY. 


- 


[From the Albany Atlas and Arcus, Julx.4.1 


Mr. John Wise, the celebrated aeronaut, arrived "in Albany at 
half-past eight o’clock; yesterday morning., . 

He reports that from St. Louis to Medina, Orleans county, from 
which the last telegraphic dispatch concerning thfc balloon was re¬ 
ceived, the voyage was highly successful, the balloon working to 
tin ii entire satisfaction, an4 justifying the hopes with which they 
set out that they would be able to reach the sea-board. At this point, 




9 


' % % 
however, they found they wfere somewhat out of their cours^, and * 

could not possibly make New York, being too far north, and 
therefore determined to proceed to Boston or Portland. 

Before taking that direction it was concluded to lai\d at Roches- 5 
ter, there drop Messrs. Gager and Hyde, and then proceed on their 
journey eastwards In carrying put this intention, they dropped 
down gradually, and finally struck a hurricane perfectly frightful in 
its force, which hurried them along at terrific speed towards Lake 
Ontario. They w6re driven dowif to the very surfaced the water, 
where the balloon was lightened in e\$y»possible way, carried with 
fearful speech and violence towards the sliore and through a piece of , 
woods, into which they; finally'managed to land. This, was in 
Henderson township, Jefferson county. \ 

The four passengers—Messrs. Wise and hiL jV^ountaine, Mr..pa- . ; 
ger, of Boston, and Mr. Hyde, of the St. Louis Republican—r were A : 
unharmed beyond a 4ew scratches. The balloon is considerably 4f. s 
datpaged, but not beyond repair. * * v , 

Messrs. Wise and Gager came direct to Albany yesterday morn-* 
ing, and from there the latter proceeded to Troy, and thence toiK 
Boston. Mr. Wise left for New York in the'evening, on board the 
Knickerbocker. Mr. La Mountaine remained on the ground to take 
charge of the balloon. Mr. Hyde proceeded back home to St. 
Louis, where he propo^cf^ to write a detailed history or the voyage. 

. The entire distance travelled was eleven hundred and fifty miles 
in nineteen hours and fifty minutes. 

One of the marked incidents of the voyage was an -oversight 
which came near proving disastrous to Mr. Wise. He was in the 
wicker basket, and being overcome* with fatigue, laid down and fell 
asleep. The rest of the party were in the boat below r . It being 
necessary to advise with him op some point as-to the coprse of the 
balloon, they called to Mr. Wise several times, but receiving no re¬ 
sponse, Mr. Gager wjpnt to him by*climbing up the ropes, and found i 
him breathing spasmodically froi# the effects of the escaping gas, 
which was slowly suffocating hijji. He was immediately aroused 
by Mr. Gager, and soon recovered his senses? /'. 

The greatest altitude attained was two miles. Mr. Wise has 
entire confidence in the success of the undertaking, and expresses a 
determination to make another experimental voyage as soon as the 
balloon^can be repaired. He has no doubt but that'll voyage can 
be-made by her to Europe in one fourth the tiine that it is now 
made by the steamers. •* t 

Mr. Wise was the directing chief, Mr. La Mountaine the aero- 
naut, Mr. Gager the navigator, and Mr. Hyde Jjhe historian. 

At four o’clock in the morning, the balloon passed over a city 
yWhich none on board knew—but the conelusidn, which proves to 
liav^e been correct, was that it was Fort Wayne. At 5 A.M. Lake 


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Erie became visible in the far distance. x\t six the party passed 
Toledo. At fare minutes to seven, the hake was struck near San¬ 
dusky. Mr. La Mountainc determined to, attempt to cross it—rftv 
unheard-of achievement in ballooning * ips great object being to 
determine the effect of water upon the gasj^ *’cH r>me savants had 
declared would prove the transit of the^YtlariticVn impossibility. 
He informed his companions, that if they did not desire to go over 
with him, he would lei i! dm out; but they unanimously decided to 
remain. lie thenfclirecitecl a descent to within about 500 feet of the 
• water, in order to ipake as nearly as possible? the city of Buffalo. 
Passing a propeller* bo asked those on board, “ Is this Lake Erie? ” 
.“Kayibcr,” was-dhc answer, “and you had better ’look out.” 
Disregarding the injunction, the intrepid voyagers went on, and 
received a parting salute from the whistle of the propeller. Seven 
steamboats were passed and saluted during the passage of the Lake, 
„ and tfeeuresult proved that a large body of water has no unusual 
|| effect jjhatever upon q. balloon. The descent near ■ the water, 
set^ frem Fair port, was directed by Mrr'La -Mountainc, with the 
object, as we dinve said; of striking near Buffalo. On crossing, 

' however, the balloon crossed Grand Island, between Buffalo and 
Lockport. 

It was then decided--the repeated ascents and descents having 
diminished thh' supply 6f both gas and ballast—to steer as nearly 
as possible* for Rochester, land Mr. Gager and Mr. Hyde at that 
point, and leave the two professional balloonists to continue their 
trip to the sea-board, which none of the party had any doubt what¬ 
ever they would reach before lour o’clock. Accordingly, at one 
o’clock. Lake Ontario appealing in the distance, a> gradual descent 
was commenced. This was continued until thy balloon was within 
/about a thousand feet of, the earthy and ’three or four^miles from 
fef Rochester, -when the voyagers found that they were caught in a 
tornado, which was blowing them along at a speed of two miles 
j a minute, and whirling them through the. air at tliflt terrifically 
vapid rate. > , 

The situation of the balloonists was -now one well calculated to 
freeze their blood with horror. To aS&end and escape from the 
hurricane would have required more ballast than could have been 
dispensed with; to descend would-be death—all on board would 
he dashed to atoms W striking the ground. Mr. Wise turned pale, 
and said: “ Gentleman, certain destruction .evidently awaits us. 
If we strike the earth in this tornado, N*e~*are all dead men.” At 
this moment the balloomwas swept at a dreadful rate over the lake. 
Mr. Gager says that in tf’S emergency Mr. La Mountainc proved 
himself a hero to be trustee. There was no quivering of his eye, 

4 no movement of his muscles,* his voice was clear And distinct, and 
^ he could not have been more cool if he had stood upon dry land. 

*‘Indeed, he was the only one of the four entirely self-possessed. 




*4 7 


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TELEGRAPHIC. 

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Watkrtowx, N. Y., July 4,i860. 


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- Mr. La Mountame arrived here this morning with the remains of 
’ his aerial ship. It '^Ll h i^fxhd^ed here a few r days, when he will 
repair it, and nt meroml3theF voyage from Chicago eastward. Mr. 
La Mountaine i? slightly Injured about the face and limbs. Messrs. 
Gager and Ifyd# returned to {heir noraesyresterday. ’ f 

.ty , . fls'cisTKR, Pa., July 5th, 1850. 

Wise, the aeronapt, returned here last Evening. 


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MR. WISE’S NARRATIVE, 


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In addition to what we have already published in relation to the 
great balloon excursion, we give a portion of Mil Wise’s narrative 




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of the journey : 


THE BALLOON AND ITS CONTENTS. 


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Having had much experience in’ hard winds, and the periL of 
landing a balloon under them, we had constructed, at St. Lon is a 
good wicker-work car (which, with am>od and strong concentric* 
hoop, are life-preservers in these perifs), which was suspended be¬ 
tween the boat and the balloon, and about eight feet above the 
former and within six feet of th# hoop, ^6 that the neck‘of the bal¬ 
loon hung in the basket car whenever the balloon was fully disteml- 
The boat contained sbr hundred pounds of ballast, one bucket 


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df water, one bucket of lemonade, wi#t an abundance of bread and 
wine, poultry, and sandwiches, beside delicacies too numerous to 
enumerate, IViimshed by kind frienejs. „Mr. La Mountaine took 
command of the boat and ballast, and took his place on one end ; 
Mr. Gager took the other end, and took charge of Mie charts pnd 
compass; Mr. Hyde, local editor of tlie*St. Louis Ji publican , took 
his seat in the middle, fjwith 'note-book. and pencil, as histexiap. 
Although Mr. Hyde was not in the original programme, we unan¬ 
imously agreed to let him accompany us, 4 prpvided it would not in¬ 
terfere with our ultimate design, and as it was arranged that, under 
any circumstances, when the balloon should fail, the boat with its 
occupants should be disposed of, and myself or Mr. La Mountaine 
should proceed with the voyage alone. 

The basket contained tlirep hundred and fifty pounds of ballast, 
a barometer, yfot ‘and dry buIlJ$ thermometer* besides a quantity of 
wines and provisions ; and I took my place^in the basket and charge 
of the valve-rope, and as director of thegeneral plan of the voyage, 
by the unanimous consent of the part^flflgaged in this long-devised 
enterprise. I must say here that Mr.Xa Mountaine took in charge 
a part of the programme that none but a cool head and a mqst ac¬ 
complished aeronaut could be trusted with; and especially the night- 
sailing. At 7:2d P.M., we set'sail from the Washington square 
of St. Louis, and our course at starting was north of east. 


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At 8Jf 30y P.M. 


THE NIGHT VOYAGE. 



the shades of the evening shut from oOTWiew 
the nctble city of St. Louis and the Father of Waters; though it com 
tinue/1 light drit : l after nine. I submitted the whole thing to Mr. 
La Mountaine’s charge for the night, with the *^en*anding to have 
jtiApaked whenever he wanted the valve worked; .and he took it 
with alacrity, Before I went to sleep we had mounted to a height 
at Which the halloo^ hacVfecome completely distemletljpnd where 
Jfre found the currefitAie east. Here it became ehi%,^nd Mr. La 
%Iountaiuc, as well ns^lkof ns, suffered from the change of air; and 
with all the clothing^ C(Mild put on us it^was still uifcomfor table, 
though the thermometer stood at 42, and the barometer at ^3, and 
this was the ic rest of both the instruments during the whole voy¬ 
age, except the crossing of Lake Ontario. 

Afterbidding the party in the boat a good-night and god-speed, I 
coiled J^v‘self up in blankets ami laid down as best I could, and 
in a few moments was soiled pslgepj and knew nothing but repose 
until U : oO P.M. 

At mis time, Mr. La Mountaine again mounted for the upper-cur¬ 
rent ; being desirous of malftug a little more easting, he hailed me 
to open the vqlve, as tne b;#oo&had become so tense, and the gas 
was rushing firm the necHmvitV a noise; but finding no answer 
from me, he suspected that I wr % s being smothered in the gas, and 
he admonished Mr. Gager to mouj'.t to my car by a rope provided for 
that purpose, and Mr. Qager found me breathing ^spasmodically; 
but a good shaking and the removal of the neck of the balloon from 
my face, with plenty of pure, cold air around me, soon brought me 
hack to a knowledge of Vhat was going on, and I resolyed to sleep 
no more during the night.* ' 

CARIOUS*'SIGHTS AND SOllxDS. 

A 1 '; midnight I felhquite^llj with an invigorated spirit of obser¬ 
vation and interest in our experiment. The whole dome of heaven 
was lit up with a mellow phosphorescent light, the stars shone with 
a crystalline brilliancy, and the Milky-Way looked like an illuminat¬ 
ed stratum of cumulus clouds. Whenever we crossed water, the heav¬ 
en-lit dome was as visible below, by reflection, as above. So re¬ 
markable was this - hosphorescent light of the atmosphere, that the 
balloon looked translucent, and looked like light shining through 
oiled paper. We could also tell prairie from forest, anil, by keep¬ 
ing the eye for a moment* downward, 1 ^ coulct see the roads, fen¬ 
ces, fields, and even houses quite distinctly at any elevation not 
over a mile, and even at the greatest elevation we could eftseem 
prairie from woodland, aadlrom water, 

Whenever \ve halloed it was followed by * a, distinct echo, and 
even this served as a differential index to Height. We always 
‘ Found a response ii\ numerous bow-wow-wows, and these, tdo, were 
♦ always indicative of the fullness and sparseness of the habitations 
below, as we could hear them foi 4 many miles aropnd us. Mr. La 




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Moufffeine remarked that nobody lived in that country but dogs, or 
. else the people^barked like dogs, he having got a litjle out of (humor, 
because nobody would tell him in what State we w^re sailing,* and he 
gave up the inqui^. with the remark that it must be cAer some other 
country than America as we had beenmoving alpng at a rapid pace. 

THE MOIWING JOURNEY. | '% 1 « 

At 3 Jf*M., 4 Saturday, we came to a%ene^ conclusion thi 
were somewhere over the State of Indiana or JOhio. At 4 A.M. 
we passed a city, but <jould not make it pi#, but 5 A.M. we dis¬ 
covered Lake Erie aheacbof us, and th in concluded that the city we 
left a ftttle south of our tract must have been Fort^ Wayne. At 
6 A.M. we passed Toledo, and about an fyoufc afteldvard we lowered 
on the margin of the lake a little north of Sandusky. After a few 
moments’ consultation, and a review of our ballast, we determined 
to risk the length of Lake Erie, and to test the notion thfc* balloons 
cannot long be kept up over water,, because of some peculiar affini¬ 
ty of the two—a notion that never had any belief witf^m^. Just 
as we merged upon the lake, a little jsteam screw that was propelling 


you. Mr. La mountaine cried DacK, a* is it LaRe Jbne : ancitne 
answer was, “ Yes, it is, and yc\i had fetter look out.” Our good 
friend, the propeller, finding tha® we discarded lnS kindness, rounded 
off again, arid sounded us a gSod-by * with his steam-whistle, and 
went his way up the river. r; 

Here we mounted up until tjie balloon got full, and the barometer 
fell to 23, in order to make along near. the soutliem shore of the 
lake; but at Mr. La Mountaine’s suggestion, that we could make 
the city of Buffalo bv sailing but a few hundred feet above the sur¬ 
face of the water, jlopened the valve until we gradually jink to 
within 500 feet 6rthe water. ‘Here we found a gentle^ale of 
aboun d speed of a mile per minute, and we resolved to float on it 
until we should heave in sight.of Buffalo, and th'dn rise and sail 
over it. This was a most interesting part of our voyage. We 
overtook seven steamboats, passed mutual salutations, and would 
soon leave them flitting on the horizon in oi^rear. One of these 
lonely travellers romarked as we passed him: “You are going it 
like thunder.” At 10:20 ASM., we were skirting along the Canada 
shore, and'passed near the mouth of the Welfeid Canal, and soon 
began to mount fbr our more easterly current? so as to take Buffalo 
in our track, but we circled up into it between Buffalp and Niagain 
Falls, crossing Grand* Island, leaving Buffalo to the right and Lock- 
port to the left of us, on our onward course. Finding ourselves in 
the State of New York, but too far no#h to make the city of New 
I ork, it was agreed that we. woulcbmake a landing near Kochester, 
detach the boat, leave out Mr. Geiger and Mr. Hyde, and Mr. La 
Mountaine and myself pursue -.the voyage to a point at IJostoii or 
Portland. 


Accordingly we descended gradually, IVniJiofore vvc got within a 
thousand feet of the earth, we found a terrific gale sweeping along 
below.» The woods roared like a host of Niagaras, the surface of 
the earth was filled with ebjuds of dust, and I toIcKmy friends cer¬ 
tain destruction ^waited us if we should touch the eaiih in that 
tornado. The phugc Atlantic was making a terrible sweep 
earthward; already were we near the tops of the trees of a tall 
forest, find I cried out somewhat excitedly, “ Fpr God’s sake, heave 
overboard 4 piy thing you can lay your hands Jon, La Mountaine,” 
and in another mordent he responded “ All right,” standing on the 
side of the boat, with a shaft and wheels, intended for the working 
of the fan-wheels!, ami ready to heave it over shouldn't become 
necessary. 

Mr. Hyde looked up to my car, and very solemnly said: “ This 
is an exciting time, Professor. What shall we do 1” “ Trust to 

Providence and all our energies,” said I. We were fast running 
on to Lake Ontario, and oh! how terribly it was foaming, moaning, 
and howling. I said: "if* La'Mountaine, I have one hundred and 
fifty pounds of ballast in my car’ yet, and a heavy valise, an 
express-bag (sent to the U- »S Express Company’s Office in Broad¬ 
way. New York), anu a lot of provisions.” 

“ Well, if that won’t do, I wiuFcut up the boat for ballast, and 
we can keep above water until weireach the opposite shore,” which 
was near suhundred miles off in the direction we were ♦then going. 

Here I handed my ballast down ^ to La Mountaine as we were 
rapidly mounting above* the terrific gale, believing that by that 
course we should at least get out of itq main track. 

'•Every thing now indicated that we should perish in the water or 
oh the land ; and pur only salvation w^s to keep afloat until we 
got out of the gale ; if we could. I said : “ You must all get into 
the basket, if you want to be saved, sheuld we ever reach the land. 
And I truly tell you that* the perils of the land ar^ even more ter¬ 
rible than those of the water, with our machines'? \nnd it-would be 
easier to meet death by drowning than to have our bodies mangled 
by dashing ijgainst rocks and treefuT By this tipie Mr. Gager and 
Mr. Hyde had clfunbered' into the basket wit^uic^ Mr. Hyde said 
very coolly: “ I urn prepared to die, di$ ;I would rather die on land 
than in the ater.” I said: “What do you say, Mr. Gager?” 
He replied : “ I would rather meet it on land; but do as you think 
best.” Mr. La Mountaine^was busily engaged, in collecting what he 
could for .ballast. Every thing was now valuable to us that had 
weight. Our carpet-bags, our instruments, the v express*bag, our 
provisions, .were all ready to go, and go they did, one after another, 
until we were reduced to the express-hag, that went overboard last. 

We now descried thfe*sliore, some forty,, miles alien'd, peering 
between a sombre bank of*#clouds and the water horizon, but we 


looping at a fcarfJB?ate uporf the turbulent water, arul, in 
3r moment, ^rash 1 wrent the boat upon the water sideways, 


-.Another moment, ^rash'^vent the boat upon the water sideways, 
staving in two of the planks, and giving our whole craft two fear¬ 
ful jerks by twp succoring waves. La Mountaine stuck to the boat 
like a hero, but lost*ms hat, and got a dash of thejvaves, but soon 
recoverod^Tind threw over the express-flag and th# last remaining 
ballast, and cried outj “lie easy, gentlemen, I’ll haye her afloat once 
more.” In another moment we were up a few hfcndred feet again, 
and the steamer-propeller Young America wn* tacking across our 
track. I now proposed to swamp the boat Mid bal^qn in the lake, 
and trust to being picked up by the Young America, but the desire 
was that we should make -the shore and- try the land, and as we 
crossed the bow of the steamer they gave us a hearty hurrah. 
La Mountaine had now cut out of the boat all he could, and wc 
were within fifteen miles Of the shore, the gale still raging below. 
La Mountaine might have remained in the boat below, and jumped 


out at the first touching the earth, and I saw no impropriety in 
that, as then we might have had another hour or two to wait the 
lulling of the gale; but he said he would share our-fate,, and he 
also clambered inyto £hp basket, j ust^as \ve were reaching the land. 

I saw by the swaying to and fro Qj the lofty trees into which we 
must inevitably dash,* that outjvor^p^i‘ire at hand, but I 
still had a blind hope that we m)#ld l>c |av«d. I ordered two men 
upon the valve-rope, and we struck within a liundnad yards of the 
water, among some scattered trees, our "hook, which was of inl¬ 
and-quarter iron, breaking like a pipestem at the first catch of it 
in a tree, and we hurling through tree^tops at a fearful rate. 

After dashing along this way for nearly a mile, crushing and 
breaking down trees, we wCTe dashed mostfearfully into the boughs 
of a tall elm, so that the basket swung under and up through the crot ch 
of the limb, and while the boat had caught in sonfe of the other 


.branches; and this brought us to a little, but in another moment 
the Atlantic .puffed up her huge proportions, and at one swoop 
away wept the limb, basket, and boat into the air a hundred feet, 
and I was afraid some of the crew were impaled upon the scrags. 
This limb, ab«mt eight inches thick at the butt and full of branches, 
not weighing less than aix or eight hundred poumjs, proved too much 
for the Atlantic, and It bought her suddenly down upon the top 
of a very large tree and collapsed her. " It was a fearful plunge, 
but it left us dangling between heaven and earth, in the most sor¬ 
rowful-looking plight of machinery that can be imagined. 

None of us we^e seriously injured,'flie many cords, 4hc strong 
hoop made of. wood and iron, and the close wicker-Work basket 
saving'us from harm, as long as the machinery hung together, and 
that could not have lasted two minutes longer. We dEnc to land, 
or rather >tree, of Mr. T. OT Whitney, town of IlcndersOn, Jefferson, 
county, New York. 3fcWe «*vill soon have the Atlantic >rebuilt, for 



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what I may hope may prove a more successful demonsff&tion of 
what we proposed to do on this interesting occasion. 

BALLOONING. 

In the recent balloon voyage of Mr. AVise and his companions, 
they made a distance of 1150 miles in about--nineteen hours, at a 
tfpeed of nearly one mile a minute. The longest balloon voyage on 
record was made in 1836. The balloon, in which were three Eng¬ 
lishmen, sailed from London to Weilburg, Germany, a distance of 
500 miHSpn eighteen hours. In 1853, an American ^Cincinnati 
made voyages of 350 miles in nine and a half hours. 

The great problem in aerostation is not merely to rise in the air, 
float 'about in whatever direction the wind blows, and descend at 
will, but to guide and propel the aerial ship througlxthe atmosphere 
as freely as a ship is guided in -water navigation. Since the disco¬ 
very of ballooning, some ninety years ago, the problem has vexed 
aeronauts, and much brain-work and may golden ingots have been 
wasted in constructing flying-machines, which have always signally 
y and .discouragingly failed. 

‘ Birds *fly through the air, up or down the wind, rise, descend, 
land without jar, and noiselessly—why cannot man make a balloon 
to do a similar thing ? And so, untaught or undeterred by the 
fate of Icarus, whose waxea^ings melted off and dropped him dis¬ 
gracefully into jhe sea * or afji^ometheus, who stole fire from Hea¬ 
ven, and had a chronic* liver complaint in consequence; or of a less 
classic lin6 of French, EngliSfffand American experimenters, the 
aeronauts of to-day are busilyjjp^tting and vexing themselves with 
the solution of the problem,' anowasting their substance in the vain 
hOpe^F navigating the blue.fields of ether at will. 

This last balloon voyage indicates no progress in aeronautics. 
There was propelling machinery, but it does not appear to have 
been used. The balloon was large, elegant, well provided and 
equipped, and in so far superior to the older machines of a like na¬ 
ture. But it rose and fell in the air by the old appliances, and once 
caught in a tornado, went crushing forward as wildly and as unman¬ 
ageably, as fojuier experience in ballooning would warrant. Mr. 
Wise believes there is a westerly “ trade ” wind circling the earth 

at a moderate elevation. Into this current TUsIlUlCon came, and 
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was borne onward till counter-currents took control of it. 

Should this f ,rade wind ” prove to be a continuous and con¬ 
stant atmospheric fact, the point is gained that St. Louis may send 
its mail to Ixew York by the “ air line,” while’ it woyld receive the 
return documents in the old way. The fact that such a current 
exists is possibly worth something, but the application is of incon¬ 
siderable value. It is probable that Mr.^Vise was simply fortunate 
in striking this current, aftd that at another time, he might have 
been wafted to Texas^the Saskatchewan, or Pike’s Peak, instead 
of reaching the tree-tops of Jefferson county. 







































































































































































